Adam S. Ferziger's Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism examines how North American Orthodox educators who immigrated to Israel between the mid-1960s and early 1980s reshaped Israeli religious life. Focusing on eight influential figures, Ferziger argues that they laid the foundations for a moderate stream of Orthodox Judaism that addressed contentious issues such as women's roles, engagement with non-Orthodox Jews, religious leadership, conversion, and attitudes toward academic Jewish studies.

Although their ideas initially stood at the margins of Israeli society, these educators built institutions and cultivated students who adapted their teachings to Israeli realities. This process of recalibration allowed concepts rooted in twentieth-century American Modern Orthodox thought to take hold in Israel, while also influencing Jewish communities in the United States and Canada through returning students.

The book highlights figures including Malka Bina, Chanak Henkin, Aharon Lichtenstein, Shlomo Riskin, David Hartman, Daniel Tropper, Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch, and Chaim Brovender. Ferziger gives special attention to Lichtenstein, portraying him as a pivotal figure whose scholarly stature and intellectual openness helped legitimize moderate Orthodoxy within Israel.

Comprehensive and thoroughly researched, the work underscores the lasting institutional and ideological impact of these leaders. While the reviewer notes that firsthand interviews might have added a more personal dimension, the book is praised as an important and inspiring study of religious transformation.